well its a start, and its a monster.Step 1 of Phase 1 of LTK TBM v2 is now complete.Basically. I have re-written Pathfinder to provide support for both LTK 1.22 route files(.ltk), and LTKTBMv2 .lnd files. And tested it on several ltk 1.22 routefiles. This will mean All that current users of LTK 1.22 need todo to upgrade to ltktbmv2 is overwrite the gamex86.dll file, and ltktbm can compile the superior .lnd and .crt files from that (only needs to be done once each map) but new users can download just the .lnd files required for the maps (.lnd files are typicall 6KB in size). Next step is to intregrate this code into the ltk 1.22 source and much of the hard work is done, and the bots performance should be greatly improved.

Whilst doing this I have noted several problems with .ltk files, and have adjusted the code to fix many issues that arise with these node files. For example. in the actcity2 map from actiongames, there is no less than 5 node islands (node groups which dont connect to each other) and 4 nodes which simply werent linked to and didn't link to anything (lonely nodes). now, when the pathfinder project comes accross these, it makes the best assumptions it can to link the node islands, and deletes any lonely nodes.

This Pathfinder project is called ltk pathfinder, and will probably be made available as an assistance tool for making route files (its debugging information is top quality), but as I say, it will be integrated into ltktbmv2 so will create the required files for pathfinding from either the .lnd file, or, if it cant find one, the .ltk file.

The first phase of programming is now complete, I have a stable build of ltk 1.5, which includes the new pathfinding and manuveuring code. as well as .lnd files for all the popupak maps (15 in total). just a couple of them require fixes for some ladders.

in a further update to the above post I've given it a bit of testing on several maps, fixed some moving issues in actcity3 and the ladder in cliff2, so not that far from a testing release, busy day today, so it will probably be tomorrow.

we've been busy playing with the bots. I have added 3 new server variables.

+set numclients 4 will make the server keep 4 clients on the server, removing or adding bots as clients connect (always adding them to the team with the least players)

+set numbotsteam1 3 will make sure no less than 3 bots are on team 1

+set numbotsteam2 3 same as above but for team 2.

setting numbotsteam now disables numclients, this has been changed since a bug was discovered where the server would try to balance teams when there was more bots on one team than another, so you can now use numclients or numbotsteam to configure the bots on your server (if for instance you want to play with bots or just against them.).

There is no new AI in this build, just moving stuff and door code. some maps will require fixed .lnd files to stop the bots getting stuck or killing themselves, or to help them climb ladders, basically, the main thing I need from this release is a bunch of .lnd files for each map (created from .ltk files when you connect to the map) which are held in the action/terrain folder of the q2 directory, and then to spectate the bots playing against each other and take notes for each map, which ladders they have trouble with/where they get stuck etc. ltk_skill will be fixed when I have them working properly on all the maps in the popupak map pak.

For those interested in testing, I have uploaded the dll <a href='http://www.cam-direct.co.uk/downloads/gamex86.zip' target='_blank'>HERE</a>

The specification of the installer is now complete. It will be a single exe (or possibly zip), that extracts all the files and compiles all the route files for the popupak maps in one go, the compiler is also part of the main dll, so adding new map route files will just be a case of extracting 1 small file to the terrain directory.

ugh, its always wierd coming back to a project after a few days, luckily I made a todo list and I can tell more or less where I'm up 2 :unsure: one thing I did decide however, with regards to 'capture the gold' I think I will change it to a generic 'capture and retrieve' scenareo, with the model of what you have to capture actually specified in the mission config file. Going to run this release through one more round of testing to try and catch anything I've missed, then I'll put a link to it from here before it goes on the download page.

I h8 this bit, getting so damn close to being ready and trying to make sure nothings been missed. Current update weighs in (at a fairly grufty) 4.5MB, which is not bad considering its mostly new content.

with RC1 out, I've been putting a bit of time into getting the next release candidate together, collating all the various comments from around the globe and working on pulling anything thats left together, Smurphster has said he should get some time this weekend to get the new documentation together, and by then I should have more or less everything ready, I'm tempted to miss out the RC2 release alltogether and go straight to 1.45, but I think the way todo it is get RC2 out then move straight to completing version 1.5. v1.5 will more or less mark the end of phase 1, producing a stable, playable base with which to build on, but I'm still considering a few of the finer details.

RC2 changes completed so far:*enviromental footsteps + water noise fixes and improvements+bots can now handle moving in clusters without getting in each others way*'lin kuei training' use is now learnt, rather than picked at random.

ok just been through some testing of some of the new features. Bots in deathmatch in RC1 is kinda broken, just fixed it so it will be back in RC2, just been playing with the engine as well, I'll put the engine update in the EAX/A3D thread later today (its pretty much ready)

OK, those who've read my latest <a href='http://www.cam-direct.co.uk/ltk/ltknews.shtml' target='_blank'>news post</a> may feel like the project is about to die. First of all, let me assure you its not. The next full release is VERY close to completion, and there is a lot of content to clean, rap up, and make available. What it does mean however, is that I will not be around as much to provide direction to those (mostly silent) people who provide content, ideas and testing to ensure quality. This will therefore affect mostly the under developed areas such as mission scripts and upgrading the .lnd support. But if I get it right much of this developement should be able to continue without my assistance. Dont really know how to finish this post, other than say keep checking back for more news.

Took some timeout last night to do some work on the game engine and bot code, wrapped up hostage AI, Leader AI (still a few features to add) and a new routefile making command "Planarlink" which links up nodes in open spaces and over planar surfaces in a map along with fixing a few more bugs in node files, should result in some good speed improvements in bots getting from A to B along with more varied routes.Decided how todo a few things as well, including the new 'bot report' setting to help with testing and analysis of the AI learning code, once more is in.

pretty much finished up the new control menus, some testing, and discovered why the A3D engine wasn't resolving map sounds (they are added via a function I'd missed)next up on the agenda is tansfereing the new code for the A3D engine over to the new release of openAL, and adding the function(s) needed to handle map sounds (they are handled slightly differently than mod generated sounds such as footsteps/gunshots).made a couple of new routes for testing some code and got a tempory list of the maps to be included in the next release.